News on the topic: freedom of peaceful assembly
13.06.2017 Russia: Mass arrests tighten authorities’ stranglehold on freedom of expression
A crackdown on peaceful protests across Russia in which hundreds of people were arrested and numerous others beaten by police demonstrates the authorities’ utter contempt for fundamental human rights, Amnesty International said today.
31.05.2017 Analytical review of detention conditions and treatement of persons convicted of involvement in peaceful protests in March 2017
The peaceful demonstrators sentenced to administrative detention in Minsk were held in conditions that are contrary to the state’s obligations enshrined in the Constitution and international treaties. Such conditions of detention are a form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
25.05.2017 Activists harassed over solidarity with political prisoner
Former political prisoner Viachaslau Kasinerau and Viasna’s volunteer Anisiya Hurskaya will have to appear at the police department on suspicion of involvement in an illegal protest.
03.05.2017 Courts convict May Day protesters
The Court of Minsk’s Centraĺny district convicted yesterday several participants in a May 1 protest held in the central Kastryčnickaja Square.
02.05.2017 Several people detained in May Day protests across Belarus
At least 15 people were detained by the police before and after yesterday’s protests held across Belarus, including opposition leaders Mikalai Statkevich and Pavel Seviarynets.
29.04.2017 Analytical review of administrative trials on March 27 in Minsk (Infographics)
Analytical review of court hearings and access to justice in Minsk during the administrative trials held on March 27 following mass arrests of protesters on 25 and 26 March 2017
24.04.2017 Analytical review of detentions in Minsk in March 2017 (infographics)
From March 27 to April 13, the Human Rights Center "Viasna" collected and processed 130 questionnaires from individuals whose rights were violated for exericsing freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.
18.04.2017 Human rights defender Pavel Levinau sentenced to 15 days in jail
Human rights activist Pavel Levinau has been sentenced in absentia to 15 days of administrative detention on charges of involvement in illegal demonstrations on 25 and 26 March in Viciebsk, press service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists said.
05.04.2017 Human Rights Watch: Keep up pressure on Belarus to release detainees and respect fundamental freedoms
“Belarusian authorities led a shocking, all-out assault on peaceful assembly around the Freedom Day protests,” said Yulia Gorbunova, Belarus researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They should immediately release everyone who was detained in connection with the protests and investigate allegations of police mistreatment.”
30.03.2017 UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly notified of detention of observers in Belarus
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center "Viasna" have sent to Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, a joint message, which provided information about the detention of observers, human rights activists and journalists in Viasna’s office during a coordination meeting ahead of the Freedom Day demonstration on March 25.
29.03.2017 Observatory: Crackdown continues, more human rights defenders detained in Belarus
Paris-Geneva, March 29, 2017: Belarusian authorities continue to use detention to prevent human rights defenders from observing peaceful protests throughout the country. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT) deplores a new series of arrests, harassments and convictions and urges Belarusian authorities to release all detained human rights defenders and investigate allegations of ill-treatment.
29.03.2017 Belarus: UN Expert Decries Return Of Mass Violence Against Peaceful Protestors, Demands Release Of All Detained
The Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, has expressed dismay over the Government’s open return to the policy of violent mass repression against peaceful demonstrators, non-governmental organizations, journalists and political opponents, and is calling on the authorities of Belarus to stop harassment and violence.
28.03.2017 Statistics of Freedom Day trials
On March 27, Minsk and the six regional cities of Belarus hosted trials of persons detained in the lead up to and during the protests of March 25-26. Human rights activists and observers monitored the trials.
28.03.2017 Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on the demonstrations in Belarus
Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel issued the following statement today (28 March) on the demonstrations in Belarus
28.03.2017 Civic solidarity movement condemns mass detentions and police violence in Belarus
We, the undersigned members of the Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP), a coalition of human rights NGOs from Europe, the former Soviet Union region and North America, and other non-governmental organisations decry the mass detentions of peaceful demonstrators, journalists and human rights defenders, as well as the use of violence and abusive treatment targeting them in Belarus on 25-26 March 2017.
